Up to Nine
by AlithiaSigma
Summary: Three additional people have come to influence Jotaro's adventure to Egypt. One is determined to save Kakyoin, one vows to understand their least favourite JoJo, and the third simply wants to know what "fate" truly means in the lives of the Joestars. Not even a year of preparation or the overpowered stand ability to treat reality as if it were a videogame could prepare them.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** If my OCs end up being characters people are actually interested in, I might write a prequel to this.

* * *

"We have about two months before Jotaro locks himself up. Kelly, you've still got the arrowhead?" The American teen, Nathan, turned to one of the other two people in the cramped, dry, air-condition-less room.

The 22-year-old brunette decided that this was a rhetorical question and simply pulled out the necklace she wore. It was an arrowhead with an ornate beetle surrounded by the arrow's bladelike tip. The part that would attach it to a shaft was clean and unbroken, wrapped around a number of times with a simple red string. "Considering your plan," she said, with the air of someone at least five years older than she was, "You're going to need it the most, even with Over and Over Again. Ruby, have you finally figured out what your stand does? ...Ruby?"

Instead of the teen they'd agreed to meet six months ago they found a stranger. This other girl wore a serene expression under her wide-brimmed hat. The serene expression turned into a mysterious grin, as she looked at the other two from under her hat.

Nathan was the first to act. He stood up and summoned his Stand, a four-eyed humanoid, stern and confident. "Who are you and where is Ruby?"

The girl took her hat off, letting her black hair fall down to her shoulders. She looked exactly like the Ruby they knew, perhaps a little older, but somehow, for a moment, they were completely unable to recognize her. She leaned towards Kelly, looking her in the eye. "It's a marvel how six months and a silly hat enhances your presence manipulation, Miss Pate. You two should know me better by now." Then she asked Nathan to calm down in Japanese, using the familiar "-kun" honorific.

The spell broke the moment she took off the hat. Nathan's stand disappeared as he stared at her, wide-eyed.

Kelly raised an eyebrow. "So you have the same kind of stand I do?"

The 17-year-old shook her head, almost sadly, before smiling amicably. "No. It's a stand that suits a main character like me."

"And what does it do?"

Ruby leaned back into the wall of the small room, laying her hat on the floor. "There are some rules, but basically, I am now able to copy another Stand's ability if I know how it works and the user is in range."

"So no King Crimson, huh?" Nathan didn't miss a beat, eliciting giggles from his friend.

Kelly didn't get the joke. "You people and your manga references." She crossed her legs under her. "If Nathan did, indeed, play his part, we need to get into specifics. We've established that I will not actually be joining the Crusaders at any point, but since you two won't be able to do what you're trying to do without joining, we need to figure out when, where, and how you're joining the group."

"Well," replied Ruby, "I've made my decision. It will be risky, and I'll need your help, but I honestly believe that if I want to understand Jotaro... I'll have to fight him. I'll be joining with Kakyoin."

Nathan knelt down and looked her in the eye. "Are you sure about this? You do know what it means, right?"

"I'll be fine. I'll trust you and Jotaro." Ruby Megumi gave Nathan the sweetest smile she could muster.

—

No Joestar could be trusted. It was easy enough to keep the act. Pretending that she'd grown scared and run away from His presence. That it was for the better that He did not trap her and impose upon her His will. Her desire and purpose was clear. She would kill Jotaro Kujo. She would bring Him the victory He deserved.

"Though I am but a human, I have sworn my allegiance to Him." That was her cue. While Jotaro was distracted by the nurse Hierophant Green possessed, her own stand began to lay its trap. Were she not trying to kill his grandson, perhaps Joseph Joestar would be proud of how carefully she laid her trap. With her foreknowledge, Kakyoin was already prepared for Jotaro's kiss trick. Hierophant Green freed itself from the woman and shot piercing emeralds from its hands.

"Emerald Splash!" exclaimed Kakyoin, calling out his stand's attack.

Defying her prediction that Jotaro would be helpless to this assault, Star Platinum had his arms crossed in front of him, blocking the barrage.

"What a pathetic Stand. All it's capable of is possessing people and spewing out soaked jewelry." Star Platinum grabbed Hierophant by the head and held it up. "It looks like a melon, and judging by the marks of my fingers on your forehead, I could easily crush it like a melon as well."

Kakyoin winced at the pain, but was otherwise unfazed. He got down from the window. "While you have a hand around my head, you're unguarded. Emerald Splash!"

Star Platinum was quick enough to block the emeralds in front of him with one arm, but Jotaro didn't expect to be assaulted from the side. Before he noticed, a group of red gems collided into his side, flinging him back while another voice announced it as the un-creatively named "Ruby Splash."

Jotaro wiped blood from his mouth when a girl climbed up onto the windowsill. Hierophant managed to escape Star Platinum's grasp and floated up beside Kakyoin, arms crossed like the wooden marionette Kakyoin held.

"Looks like the old man's friend was right. There are two of you."

Ruby stopped for an instant. How did he know...? Then she frowned at Jotaro. "It doesn't matter how you know. I'll kill you as easily as you killed that nurse!"

As Jotaro looked to the aforementioned nurse, red and silver appendages from all around the room began firing red versions of Kakyoin's Emerald Splash at him.

"What-" Jotaro's stand quickly deflected the stand attack with the back of its fist one by one.

"I told you," interrupted Kakyoin, "Attacking Hierophant Green would mean hurting her. Despite its range, my stand is a bit of an agoraphobe, and lashes out when forced from hiding.

"Which means," he explained while pointing at Jotaro, Hierophant launching a barrage of emeralds at the notorious delinquent, "Her injuries are your fault and responsibility!"

"You sacrificed her for your own life." Ruby got up to stand beside Kakyoin. "How despicable."

Jotaro stood his ground as his stand deftly blocked the attacks against him. He narrowed his eyes at his outnumbering attackers.

"I'm a well-known delinquent," he began, he and his stand pushing forward through the continuing onslaught of weird stand gems, "I've picked more than my share of fights and beat my opponents, leaving them with broken bones and lasting scars. I've humiliated one of my stuck-up teachers to the point he never returned to school. I skip the bill at restaurants I find lousy. I'm no model citizen by any means and yet even I..." His stand grabbed Hierophant's wrist, stopping it from spraying its attack. Jotaro himself grabbed the girl's wrist. "Even I know evil when I see it. When you use people, especially innocents, for your own gain. It's you who are despicable! And as your Stands are invisible to the law, I shall be the judge!"

Kakyoin laughed. "Evil? No, evil, as history would remind you, is the conquered. Nothing matters but victory!" Hierophant's tentacles wrapped around Jotaro's stand.

"No matter what, the ends justify the means, and there is no concept of 'fair' in love or war." The red tentacles began to close in around Jotaro. "We'll show it to you first hand!" Ruby grinned, despite her position.

Jotaro was unfazed. "In that case," he said, sliding the tip of his left index finger across the brim of his hat, "I'll prove that you are the evil ones!"

Despite being completely entangled in Kakyoin's stand, Star Platinum punched through his bindings and assaulted Hierophant Green head-on. Jotaro punched the girl once and flung her into her own stand, which dissipated as she passed out.

Jotaro watched his stand do his work, while Kakyoin's final words were "Such power..."

"Fortunately for me, my stand is anything but weak, though I'd say it's more sadistic than I am."

Jotaro and his stand picked up the two people and brought them home, deciding to skip school for the rest of the day. Two against one weren't good odds, but ambushes tended to be less effective when they were known about beforehand.

—

Elsewhere, Nathan sighed in relief. "I can't believe it took three tries just to get Jotaro to listen to me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** I'd like to know what you all think of what's going on. I have no idea how easy or difficult it is to understand the new Stand abilities.

* * *

Ruby Megumi awoke to the presence of several stand users, one of which was hovering almost directly on top of her and had his hands on her head. She felt disoriented and confused. She opened her eyes to see a very purple face staring at her forehead and a vaguely familiar face looking her in the eye.

"Don't move." The stand was pulling the flesh bud out of her forehead and a tendril was snaking up the stand user's arm.

An order. That was easy enough. She didn't need to know what was happening, and this task didn't require the use of Copycat, her stand. She vaguely remembered having another order to follow, but this one was more immediate. The other one could wait.

Jotaro was huge. Ruby could see that the teen crouched over her was at least a foot taller than her, and his broad shoulders and towering build were imposing to say the least.

The second coherent phrase that came to mind was "This guy becomes a marine biologist, of all things." The first happened to be "Wow, he's hotter in real life."

She tried to recall what happened before she passed out.

Oh.

She certainly wouldn't have mustered the gall to fight Jotaro head-on if she weren't brainwashed.

As she recalled what she was doing under the influence of Dio's flesh bud, the aforementioned parasitic lump was removed and thrown at Old Man Joestar standing over at the side of the room, who zapped it into powder with the power of the Ripple.

A woman who had to be Mrs. Kujo bandaged her forehead. She sat up and looked at the crowd. Jotaro's expression was completely neutral as his stand faded back. Avdol looked calmly impressed. Mr. Joestar's eyes glittered with pride. Kakyoin stared down at her, and she knew exactly why.

"Thank you very much, I'm sorry for troubling you" Megumi bowed politely.

Mrs. Kujo smiled warmly. "No, no. It's no trouble at all. I've heard the two of you have had a long day; stay with us for the night. My name is Seiko Kujo. Please call me Seiko!" She turned to Mr. Joestar and spoke to him in English. "That goes for you too, Papa! Please get the futons ready for our guests!"

"Why do I have to, Holly? What's with sleeping on the floor anyways? Aren't there any proper beds in Japan? Holly! ...Holly?" Mr. Joestar was about as mature as Megumi expected.

Mrs. Kujo ignored him after reminding him that he was to call her "Seiko." Of course, her father wasn't pleased with it.

"He's my father, Joseph Joestar. You've met my son, Jotaro Kujo, already." She motioned to Jotaro with her hand. Jotaro's response was to pull his hat down and walk out of the room. Mr. Joestar was still trying to get his daughter's attention without using her Japanese name.

"My name is Ruby Megumi."

A voice came from over her shoulder.

"Noriaki Kakyoin."

Megumi started, not having noticed Kakyoin walking over, as Joseph was being loud. Kakyoin crouched down in an instant behind Megumi, his eyes level to the top of her head. Megumi was not comfortable with this and chose not to look Kakyoin in the eye.

Mrs. Kujo didn't seem to notice Megumi's discomfort. "Do you want one room or two?"

Megumi was about to answer, but Kakyoin interrupted. "We'll be sharing a room. We're both students, and there's no reason we should take up more space than necessary. Thank you, Mrs. Kujo."

Megumi wanted to protest, but felt it would be out of line.

"Did you hear that, Papa? Put the futons in the same room, okay?" Holly's smile was a constant.

—

Eventually, Joesph Joestar was defeated and retired to his room.

Megumi and Kakyoin were alone in a surprisingly spacious room. Kakyoin got right to the point.

"How did you know what Jotaro was going to do?" When the flesh bud was embedded in his head, Megumi's declaration that Jotaro was going to pull Hierophant Green out of the nurse with his mouth, hold Hierophant in the air, and block his Emerald Splash was no more to him than information to use to accomplish their goal, but now that he'd been brought back to his senses, it was quite puzzling.

Kakyoin didn't know what sort of answer he was expecting. But he did know that there was something amiss. It couldn't have been her Stand's ability, as he'd already seen her stand, that she called "Donut Hole," which closely resembled his own in form and abilities. Even if it were a secondary ability of some sort, she didn't seem to use it during their encounter with Jotaro.

Megumi stared at the floor. Kakyoin was patient.

"Please... Don't tell Jotaro what I'm about to tell you."

—

Somebody that I Used to Know was the perfect stand for Kelly Pate. Every person in the world had a certain presence, and gave different impressions to those around them. Though it was a person's face and figure one would recognize, it was their presence that dictated how they acted and felt towards them. This is what Kelly Pate believes. Presence is formed through belief and knowledge, which formed from memory, which formed from experience, which formed from reality. The ability to manipulate one's own presence was the ability to manipulate what reality itself seemed to be. A person whose appearance or behaviour intimidated at least one person cultivates a presence of intimidation to those who fear them.

All Kelly needed to do was touch someone, and she could use that presence as she pleased, whether it was the whole presence of a person, with each of the different impressions given to every person, or an aspect of it.

Of course, her appearance and actions created their own presence. Presence was dynamic, alive. Anyone who wants to hold a presence of authority must act as one with authority.

She smiled as she carefully checked the cameras situated in the local airport. With the right presence, there was no place she could not seem to belong.

—

"Avdol."

Muhammad Avdol turned around to see Jotaro behind him. Not waiting for an answer, Jotaro spoke.

"Thank you for the warning." With that, the teen walked away to what was presumably his room.

Avdol thought that the boy referred to the conversation about Stand they had earlier, that Avdol knew of a number of Stand users who might be working for Dio and could attack at any time.

It wasn't until he performed a tarot reading that he suspected otherwise. No matter the reading, the ritual of shuffling and laying the cards was calming to him. He knew that many were skeptical of anyone who would claim to know the future or be able to divine what would happen, and he did not fault them for it.

But Avdol also knew that a fire would seem to lean one way or another without wind, guided by the presence of oxygen in the air. In the same way, a true fortuneteller's cards were guided by fate. What fate showed Avdol concerned him.

Three cards of the trump or Major Arcana were at prominent points of his spread. The High Priestess, The World, and The Emperor. Roughly, this signified mystery or knowledge, success or a journey, and an indomitable power of some sort. Those three alone would mean very little; vague messages that amount to nothing. In union with different arrangements of cards of the four suits, it could mean anything from an uncertain future to a warning of things to keep in mind.

The specifics of any tarot spread are more elaborate and intertwined than most people would be interested in hearing, but Avdol discovered a reading that boded for strange things to come.

An all but guaranteed success to a main purpose of a long journey, and yet a power they will not be able to overcome, shrouded in a mystery that both should be unravelled, and yet could bear large consequences if solved.

Even with this, it was impossible to know exactly what would happen. One could study a fire for their whole life, but the exact composition of the air could not be fully determined in that way. Much as with fate, how intact the basis remains and the outcomes of the future are affected by movement, the choices made and actions taken.

Avdol didn't tell Jotaro much more about the stand users beyond the fact that they existed. Was that truly enough for someone such as Jotaro Kujo to consider a warning to thank him for? Perhaps it was not very important, but it was something nonetheless.

* * *

 **A/N:** I have no idea if the tarot bit was interesting in the least I just wanted to put it there to remind people that Avdol is a fortuneteller and that he carries those cards around for things other than naming stands.

If you're wondering when Nathan is going to show up, he's in the next chapter.


	3. Over and Over again

"Nathan, Ruby, are you ready?"

The plan was simple. Get Ruby flesh-budded without allowing any of Dio's servants to be aware of Kelly and Nathan's presence.

Ruby looked up at Dio's mansion in Cairo. Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked.

"Yes." Ruby nodded.

"Let's go."

Kelly tapped Nathan on his shoulder, no doubt using her Stand's power to manipulate their presences. Even though they were walking with Ruby, they were about as noticeable as leaves on a tree. They stepped up to the mansion's gates. Ruby pressed them and found them unlocked. They walked onwards towards the door. She looked to Nathan.

"Do I knock?"

Nathan shrugged. "Go ahead."

She knocked on the door. No answer. She'd expected Terence D'arby to open the door. They didn't know how those inside the manor knew if there were guests, nor did they really know how Dio recruited stand users other than what Avdol had gone through. And they very well couldn't just wait for him to find out that Ruby was a stand user. They doubted they had time for that.

Ruby knocked again. Still no response.

"Nathan," she started, just looking at the door, "Have we tried breaking in yet?"

Nathan shook his head. "No, this is the first time."

Ruby tried to open the door. It wasn't locked.

Before the group took a single step inside, a hawk screeched, and the group turned to see Pet Shop, riding towards them with a giant spiked icicle.

 **(^$^)**

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked.

"Yes." Ruby nodded.

"Let's go."

Kelly tapped Nathan on his shoulder, no doubt using her Stand's power to manipulate their presences. Even though they were walking with Ruby, they were about as noticeable as leaves on a tree. They stepped up to the mansion's gates. Ruby pressed them and found them unlocked. They walked onwards towards the door. She looked to Nathan.

"Do I knock?"

Nathan shook his head. "It's not locked, and Pet Shop is nearby." It might work if Ruby entered before Pet Shop saw her.

Ruby opened the door and entered. Before she walked in a hawk screeched, and the group turned to see Pet Shop, riding towards them with a giant spiked icicle.

 **(^$^)**

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked.

"Yes." Ruby nodded.

"Pet Shop is guarding the door. Unless you want to try breaking in through a window, we could see how another Stand User enters."

Ruby looked at the mansion. "I want to try breaking in. It's probably not going to work, but if it did, that'd be hilarious."

Nathan smiled. "Sure, let's try it."

Kelly tipped an imaginary hat over her eyes. "Yare yare daze..." she said, a surprisingly accurate imitation of Jotaro.

"Yare yare dawa, you mean," corrected Nathan.

"Oh whatever... Let's just get this over with." Kelly thought that Nathan would have stopped abusing his stand's ability by now.

"Let's go!" Nathan shouted, posing.

Pet shop got to them before they could climb any of the first floor windows.

 **(^#^)**

Nathan and Ruby's stands boosted Ruby into a second story window.

Vanilla Ice happened to be flying past in Cream's power, sending Ruby's arm and half of her head into his dark dimension. What was left of her mouth opened in a voiceless scream while her remaining eye closed and–

 **(^#^)**

"Wait," Nathan said. "Vanilla Ice is going to fly past in 20 seconds."

"Cool!" whispered Ruby, a little loudly, "Give me a boost, I'm going to try something.

Ruby stood on Nathan's shoulders. Vanilla Ice's void shot past and Ruby summoned her stand, now a red and silver replica of Cream. The stand picked up Ruby and shoved her into its mouth, following its body. Suddenly, a hold appeared in the wall as an invisible force carved through the building. Another hold formed in the wall beside Nathan and Ruby's Stand revealed itself, then spat out Ruby herself.

Ruby patted her scary stand's head. "I call her Milk." She grinned at Nathan. "Let's trash this place up a bit. I'll meet you back in front of the manor before we entered the gates, okay?"

Nathan smiled and nodded. "I'll watch and I'll be sure to tell you what happened on the boat ride to Singapore. If you can, give Terence a punch in the face before you're done."

Ruby climbed back onto her stand. "Let's see how many I can bowl down. Don't die too many times!" Milk swallowed its user and itself again, disappearing. Another perfectly round hole appeared in the manor wall.

Many things happened.

Nathan went back and told Kelly they were going to mess around for a while.

Kelly just walked off into the desert in response, knowing that everything that happened from this point on was meaningless.

It took 5 tries to figure out where Ruby and Vanilla Ice were when they were in their voids.

After that, Nathan died seventeen times before being able to accurately ascertain when one of them were near from the air currents alone.

Dio's left foot was accidentally torn off eight times. Nathan had no reason to stop this incident from occurring. It took an average of about five minutes for him to regrow it each time, and he was completely unaware of how many times it had happened.

Vanilla Ice discovered Ruby, but not once did Ruby disengage the Stand ability.

They ended up fighting, and their uncontrollable flights ravaged the mansion, and sometimes the surrounding areas.

When their two voids finally collided, seeming annihilating each other, Nathan decided that was what Ruby meant by "done."

 **(^$^)**

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked.

"Yes." Ruby nodded.

"Okay no, this isn't going to work. We're going to have to find Kakyoin and his parents instead. Oh, and Ruby, ask me about Vanilla Ice later." Nathan turned around and walked back to where they came.

Kelly sighed. "How many times did you destroy Cairo?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've started to remember the other times...?"

Kelly threw a canteen full of water at him. "It's written on your face."

Nathan was hit by the canteen and fell over.

 **(^$^)**

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and blinked.

"Yes." Ruby nodded.

"This isn't going to work. We're going to have to find Kakyoin and his parents instead. Oh, and Ruby, ask me about Vanilla Ice later." Nathan turned around and walked back to where they came.

Kelly sighed. "How many times did you destroy Cairo?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow. "Do you actually remember?"

Kelly threw a canteen full of water at him. "Look, you caught it."

Nathan caught the canteen, opened it, and took a swig.

"See," Kelly, "you're predictable. If I had to guess, I'd say you were hit by it once, twice at most. Unless my throwing arm is better than I thought it was."

Nathan shrugged. "It's not a big deal. Ruby only destroyed Cairo twice, anyways. Now, aren't we going to find the Kakyoin family or what?"

He and Ruby walked off.

Kelly tipped an imaginary hat over her eyes. "Yare yare daze..." she mumbled to herself, a surprisingly accurate imitation of Jotaro.

—

To Kelly, getting Ruby to where Kakyoin was and having Dio find her wasn't difficult but, from the way Nathan was acting, they must have tried more than once already.

She couldn't understand how Ruby put up with him. Nathan acted as if he knew exactly what to do at all times, bu Kelly could tell that was only because he'd recklessly tried as many other options as he could conceive in some now non-existent reality. But his presence of confidence and competence seemed to have successfully impressed Ruby.

Even if there were no other signs, though that was certainly not the case, the way Ruby acted on the flight to Japan clearly showed that she was flesh-budded. She seemed unusually focused, even when she was pretending to be her normal self.

Kelly chose to visit Jotaro in jail rather than monitor Ruby and Kakyoin with Nathan. She had her stand completely negate her presence the whole time she was there, finding that blocking nobody's sight and bumping into no one and no thing preferable to pretending to be a guard on duty.

She watched as Jotaro used Star Platinum, not yet known to him by any other name or title than the "evil spirit," grab a book two feet away from him. An Agatha Christie novel. Something to tell Ruby about sometime. It wasn't an important fact to keep in mind, but it seemed like the sort of trivia the girl would like.

Jotaro's cell mates were terrified, as to them, they'd just seen a book move into Jotaro's hands of its own accord.

She came again, following Joseph and Holly a few days later, only to brush past Avdol, who almost noticed her. Almost. Not quite. That was fine.

She stored his presence in her Stand, just as Nathan had asked her to shortly after Ruby left on a poorly disguised meeting with Kakyoin.

She pitied whatever other of her selves would have had to deal with Nathan's antics. She wondered how many times she simply gave up on him and wasn't permitted to remember.

Kelly met up with him later, and she gave him Avdol's presence. Whatever he was going to do with that was up to him. His tone changed slightly after she gave it to him, whether it was his attempt to fit the presence or because he just used his stand ability, she wasn't sure.

He told her. "You told me to tell you that Gray Fly isn't on the first seven cameras" This meant he was either on the eight camera, or that she'd finally experience what the various now-erased versions of herself had felt. Not that it mattered anyways.

* * *

 **A/N:** Kelly doesn't like Nathan's stand. This is not a spoiler. This is quite obvious. I want to know if you can tell what this chapter is about.


End file.
